Sunday, October 16, 2011

I wonder what the response would be if all homosexuals in the military were asked what they thought of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repeal. My educated guess is that 9 out of 10 (or more) would speak of a strong desire to serve their country and not so much of a need to express their sexuality.
Gays in the military never came up in my almost 5 years of full-time Marine Corps active duty. Making it an issue never even entered into anyone’s consciousness. There’s a good chance that it was because no one really cared.
This whole thing started when a Naval Aviator felt the need to come out of the closet during the Clinton years. President Clinton took this on as his pet project for some reason. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was the end result with an initial burst of military-wide sensitivity training (followed by a lot of good people leaving the new “gay” military).
Don’t get me wrong - I’m first in line when someone offers a pesto, avocado and sprout sandwich, but the military is no place for a gay-pride event. The military is a place where men are men. They tape pictures on their wall lockers of their girlfriends or wives, speak of things that young men speak of and eat, sleep and train together 24/7. Painting a picture of a dude in a Speedo on a jet fighter just doesn’t work in this environment.
Sure, no one cares, but many of us out there can’t wrap our hands around the gay lifestyle. We don’t care and it’s fine, but many really don’t want it thrown in their face. Almost every homosexual in the military is OK with keeping it to themselves; they prefer it that way because they understand the inability of many to relate to their lifestyle. It’s not a bad thing - there’s just a time and place and the military isn’t it.
One might ask, then, why does this sort of thing even come up? Could it be a Congress that strives to demonstrate its tolerance? In my view the concept of “tolerance” is a big insult. It implies that there’s something inferior that needs to be tolerated which is inconsistent to the notion of all men and women created as equals; a notion that I personally subscribe to. It’s the bliss-ninnies of the world saying “Look at me. I’m so above it all. Yes, I am that smart and highly intellectual. I have supreme wisdom of all things and you must listen to me.”
Well, I disagree and recommend that the military develop and implement their own policies. It’s always been OK to be gay in the military, but a demonstration of homosexuality is a disruption to good order and discipline. The real gay community knows, understands and respects this. It’s just the way it is and won’t be changing probably ever and the current course will, as usual, have a negative long-term impact on many levels.
At this time I’d like to ask Congress to allow the military to be the military and stop distracting them with nonsense. The military does an infinitely better job of managing itself than Congress does of managing much of anything, so just stop it. Seriously. And if you disagree with me then you’re probably not gay, but are just walking around with a chip on your shoulder constantly looking for ways to be offended and I don’t like you. Your misplaced agenda has nothing to do with military service; unlike our gay military personnel whose only agenda is to serve our nation. Now go away.